Up against the ropes, Romney debuts new ads

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK

Published 6:30 am, Saturday, December 29, 2007

Rudy Giuliani accepted the endorsement Friday of the National Troopers Coalition in Orlando, Fla.

Rudy Giuliani accepted the endorsement Friday of the National Troopers Coalition in Orlando, Fla.

Photo: REINHOLD MATAY, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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John Edwards campaigns Friday in Dubuque, Iowa, where he is in a three-way race for the Democratic lead.

John Edwards campaigns Friday in Dubuque, Iowa, where he is in a three-way race for the Democratic lead.

Photo: JESSICA REILLY, THE TELEGRAPH HERALD

Up against the ropes, Romney debuts new ads

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DES MOINES, IOWA — Mitt Romney launched new hard-hitting ads against his top Republican presidential rivals Friday, criticizing Mike Huckabee on foreign policy, immigration, crime and spending in an Iowa commercial while assailing John McCain on taxes and immigration in a spot for New Hampshire.

The subjects of the ads brushed off the criticism and suggested they were proof that Romney's campaign was in trouble in the days before the first tests of the 2008 nomination process.

Both ads come as the races for the top spot in Iowa and New Hampshire have largely turned into two-way battles, with Romney the common denominator. The former Massachusetts governor is trying to overtake Huckabee in Iowa's caucuses slated on Thursday and fend off McCain's challenge in next-up New Hampshire.

Giuliani tests 9/11 strategy in Florida

It's a sight Florida voters may as well get used to for the next month: former New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani
, surrounded by law enforcement, talking tough on terror.

Giuliani wrapped up a three-day swing through Florida on Friday in Orlando and stuck to that script, accepting an endorsement from a national state trooper group while calling for aggressive steps to defeat "Islamic terrorism" after this week's assassination of a major opposition leader in Pakistan.

With his once-soaring popularity flagging a bit among Florida Republican voters, it's a message Giuliani will likely not stop repeating before the state's Jan. 29 primary.

Polls show Mike Huckabee now nearly as popular among Republicans as Giuliani, who once enjoyed double-digit leads in most surveys.

Giuliani is not projected to win early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. He is relying on a "big state" strategy that calls for him winning in Florida and then carrying many of the 22 states that hold primaries or caucuses on Feb. 5.

Kucinich fans riled by Pizza Hut ad

"Are people seeing lower prices now?" the announcer in the ad asks before cutting to a debate segment where Kucinich says: "More people in this country have seen UFOs."

When the vegan congressman disappears from the screen, his image is replaced by several meat-covered pizzas.

Operators of several Web sites that admire the Cleveland congressman are urging readers to complain to Pizza Hut.

"I am going to encourage all Kucinich supporters to boycott your restaurant until you change your 'debate' advertising," wrote the operator of the Web site Dandelionsalad. "That was a low blow to a viable, electable presidential candidate. ... I also think Pizza Hut should publicly apologize to the Congressman!"

Pizza Hut hasn't received many complaints about the ad, which began airing nationally on Thursday night, said company public relations director Jennifer Little.

Little called the ad a "lighthearted way to tie into the important topic of the economy," and said Kucinich's UFO remarks were used because they were among the most memorable made in any of the presidential debates.

Clinton, a New York senator, "defends the system" and has no inclination to change it, Edwards said in an interview with Bloomberg Television's Political Capital with Al Hunt. Illinois Sen. Obama "wants change," yet "he's got a very different approach that I don't think will work," Edwards said.

The issue of change is one that Obama and Clinton have sparred over for months.

Others disagree. "The truth of the matter is the Republican Party wants to have its day in the spotlight, the Democratic Party wants to have its day in the spotlight," says Hamp Atkins, the 5th District Republican chairman from Rock Hill. "And that's good for South Carolina."